Effect of Conditioner Type and Downforce, and Pad Surface Micro-Texture on SiO Chemical Mechanical Planarization Performance.

Based on a previous work where we investigated the effect of conditioner type and downforce on the evolution of pad surface micro-texture during break-in, we have chosen certain break-in conditions to carry out subsequent blanket SiO wafer polishing studies. Two different conditioner discs were used in conjunction with up to two different conditioning downforces. For each disc-downforce combination, mini-marathons were run using SiO wafers.